Salty Fingers

[courtneykeeps]

Hello everyone! New to R2R, I'm Courtney from London, UK. Thanks for all the messages on the welcome board. I'm coming from the freshwater side, keeping planted tanks for 12 years.

It was inevitable... The thing I wanted to do since I got into fishkeeping was have a saltwater tank. Despite taking 12 years, I'm glad it's happening now rather than back then. Since then I've gained a wealth of knowledge, appreciation for aesthetics and most importantly...more disposable income! I'm on the back foot in terms of reef keeping but I feel keeping freshwater aquariums has given me some leg up at least. A lot of the core principles are the same.

I'll be setting up a macroalgae dominated scape (a few easy soft corals maybe). In the meantime I've been doing lots of research and I think I'm mostly ready. I've got most of the things I need and all the hardware is second-hand bar the stand and hardscape. I spent a good while creating/decorating the stand whilst I daydreamed of salty goodness. The design was supposed to emulate the ocean and corals.

I won't bore you with the whole run up til now but I'll throw in some pictures of how things are looking.

Here's the current hardware setup;

Tank: ADA 60P with lid
Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 350
Lighting: Chihiros WRGB II Slim 45cm
Stand: Custom Built
Other Equipment: Various things will come and go.

I'll be setting up the hardscape in the next few days.

 

[afrokobe]

Is the painting going to be the background for the tank?

 

[rmorris_14]

Is the painting going to be the background for the tank?

I think it is the door to the cabinet... But Im wanting to know as well! Super beautiful and inspiring.

 

[afrokobe]

I think it is the door to the cabinet... But Im wanting to know as well! Super beautiful and inspiring.

oh that makes much more sense lol. I saw the barnacle stuck on it. I thought it was a functional background

but that could be the handle now i think of it...

 

[courtneykeeps]

I think it is the door to the cabinet... But Im wanting to know as well! Super beautiful and inspiring.

oh that makes much more sense lol. I saw the barnacle stuck on it. I thought it was a functional background

but that could be the handle now i think of it...

It is the front door yep! I did a previous one for a freshwater tank and used some Manzanita wood for the handle so thought I'd do something salty for this one.

I couldn't bare having another basic stand. Variety is the spice and all that...

Thanks for your kind words.

Edit: I'll post up the whole thing once I get the lights fitted.

 

[courtneykeeps]

This is the full aquarium stand finally built!

I'm growing emersed freshwater plants in the stand itself so the cabinet has great lighting. It's hard to see in the photo but there is a thin strip of indigo lighting that shines through the top of the door and just really works.

Tank time!

 

[Sean Clark]

Very nice.

 

[afrokobe]

Looks great!

 

[courtneykeeps]

Very nice.

Looks great!

Thanks guys!

 

[rmorris_14]

Stunning. I have stand envy ;Sorry

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Wow haven’t seen an ADA aquarium used as a saltwater aquarium yet but the super clear glass will make it look great!!

 

[jwill4400]

It is the front door yep! I did a previous one for a freshwater tank and used some Manzanita wood for the handle so thought I'd do something salty for this one.

I couldn't bare having another basic stand. Variety is the spice and all that...

Thanks for your kind words.

Edit: I'll post up the whole thing once I get the lights fitted.

Absolutely beautiful!

 

[courtneykeeps]

The hardscape is in!

I knew with this project I wanted to try and 'scape' the tank as opposed to just plopping rock in the middle and calling it a day and for this reason I also wanted to use something other than traditional marine rocks. I've seen several people have success with macroalgae tanks using lava rock since it's very porous and has a large surface area, perfect for bacterial colonies to develop. Then I saw that Aquarium Gardens was getting in some Unzan Stone from ADA and I knew it would be perfect. It's got the texture and properties of lava rock but it's much darker (makes black lava look grey), has more character and the pockets would be great to put some algae or soft corals into - although I'll leave some open otherwise I might as well have just bought regular lava rock! The Unzan also came with an interesting note below:

So last Thursday I made an epic aquascaping voyage with a fellow aquarium friend to Cambridge. The day was filled with so much including visiting Aquarium Gardens and scaping, having a banging lunch with George Farmer and assisting and hanging out with Tai Streitman for the upcoming Aquatic Habitats book, not to mention picking up a terrarium late at night to cream things off. Very grateful for the opportunities of that day and needless to say I was dead when I got back home.

My mind was pretty made up on the layout from being at the shop and so I just replicated it when I got home. Some things are always different once you get it into glass walls but it's close enough.

So before I can get going there's a few things I need to get first;

• Salt (thinking to use Tropic Marin Pro Reef)
• Jugs for RO (I'll probably get enough to hold a month's water change so I don't have to go to Spotless too often)
• Refractometer (I've been recommended D-D and thinking of picking up a second-hand one on eBay)
• Test Kit (I've been recommended Saliferts to begin with and then can invest in Hanna checkers later down the line)

Once I've got these I can get the tank cycling /maturing and then can start to think about the fun stuff like the algae, corals and other inhabitants!

 

[A Young Reefer]

Looks good interested to see how it turns out.

 

[rmorris_14]

sincerely, I wish you would build me a tank. I’m just loving everything you do.

 

[courtneykeeps]

sincerely, I wish you would build me a tank. I’m just loving everything you do.

Too kind!

 

[Eric R.]

Welcome Courtney! Another macro algae focused tank, nice! Everything looks great so far, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

 

[jwill4400]

The hardscape is in!

I knew with this project I wanted to try and 'scape' the tank as opposed to just plopping rock in the middle and calling it a day and for this reason I also wanted to use something other than traditional marine rocks. I've seen several people have success with macroalgae tanks using lava rock since it's very porous and has a large surface area, perfect for bacterial colonies to develop. Then I saw that Aquarium Gardens was getting in some Unzan Stone from ADA and I knew it would be perfect. It's got the texture and properties of lava rock but it's much darker (makes black lava look grey), has more character and the pockets would be great to put some algae or soft corals into - although I'll leave some open otherwise I might as well have just bought regular lava rock! The Unzan also came with an interesting note below:

So last Thursday I made an epic aquascaping voyage with a fellow aquarium friend to Cambridge. The day was filled with so much including visiting Aquarium Gardens and scaping, having a banging lunch with George Farmer and assisting and hanging out with Tai Streitman for the upcoming Aquatic Habitats book, not to mention picking up a terrarium late at night to cream things off. Very grateful for the opportunities of that day and needless to say I was dead when I got back home.

My mind was pretty made up on the layout from being at the shop and so I just replicated it when I got home. Some things are always different once you get it into glass walls but it's close enough.

So before I can get going there's a few things I need to get first;

• Salt (thinking to use Tropic Marin Pro Reef)
• Jugs for RO (I'll probably get enough to hold a month's water change so I don't have to go to Spotless too often)
• Refractometer (I've been recommended D-D and thinking of picking up a second-hand one on eBay)
• Test Kit (I've been recommended Saliferts to begin with and then can invest in Hanna checkers later down the line)

Once I've got these I can get the tank cycling /maturing and then can start to think about the fun stuff like the algae, corals and other inhabitants!

That is going to be beautiful! And I envy the awesome day you had. Its great to have friends with the same interests so close to you!

 

[Sean Clark]

Very unique. I like it.

 

[courtneykeeps]

The final pieces of the puzzle are coming in drips and drabs. Waiting on my refractometer and pipework...